Google’s AI Overviews: How They Are Changing Organic Search Traffic
Google's AI Overview is not something new, in fact, it's been available for a few months already, which has resulted in organic website traffic taking a knock. It is changing search behaviour, improving user experience, enabling users to find answers to their questions on the search results page without having to click through to a website to find out more information.
Google's Search Generative Experience (SGE) was first introduced in 2023, later re-branded to AI Overviews in 2024. It uses advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to summarise information from the top search results. It has shaped how users use the internet today.
At the same time, AI-powered search can boost visibility, increasing authority. Though it can be challenging, as organic visitors that may have visited and spent time browsing your website are now longer having to click onto your website. Google's AI Overview prioritise AI-generated summaries, rather than traditional ranking, which means website owners now have to focus on adjusting their search engine optimisation (SEO) strategies accordingly.
AI Overviews rely on signals to determine which sources to take information from, focusing on sources that are trustworthy and useful. Some of the factors that decide what sources to feature includes:
Actually, when you optimise for AI Overviews, it's not much different from your regular SEO efforts. It is simply a shift in focus, using the same SEO Best Practices, though they do need to be fine-tuned. The focus remains on high quality, well-formatted and structured, and credible content.
The shift to AI Overviews is not drastic, it is the way in which search engines are finding and categorising information. As a result, you need to adjust your SEO strategy accordingly:
With the introduction of AI Overviews, website owners need to adjust to ensure they reach their target audience, providing them with answers to their questions. Fresh content has become more important than ever before with niche expertise rating at the top. As search engines continue to evolve, the only option is to refine and adapt. Rather than focusing on increasing your ranking, focus on building brand trust and authority. If you need help adjusting your SEO strategy for AI Overviews, the Genie Crawl team is here to assist.
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